Mr. Selfish and I spent only four nights in Beijing, and it was barely enough time to see all of the sights we wanted to see. Beijing certainly has a lot to offer in terms of sightseeing (certainly more than Shanghai).

First, we visited the Lama Temple (aka Yonghe Temple), which is the only Tibetan temple or monastery we’ve ever visited. It is apparently one of the largest and most important Tibetan monasteries in the world. It was beautiful and had a different feel compared to other temples we’ve seen.

Mr. Selfish and I particularly enjoyed the inside of the temples, which were quite festive. The 85-foot statue of Buddha was epic.

Second, we visited the Temple of Heaven, which houses the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests (otherwise known as the landmark representing China in Disney’s Epcot). We learned that the temple was visited by Chinese emperors of the Ming and Qing Dynasties who would pray for a good harvest.

The single tier version is called the Imperial Vault of Heaven.

You can see both the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests and the Imperial Vault of Heaven from the Circular Mound Altar, which is made of marble.

The Temple of Heaven also has a huge garden and park area. We enjoyed watching the locals hanging out near the Long Corridor, which is about 1,148 feet in length.

Finally, we visited the Summer Palace, on which construction started in 1750. The Summer Palace has aspects copied from Hangzhou (the lake) and Suzhou (the canals).

The main part of the Summer Palace is Longevity Hill, which Mr. Selfish and I climbed slowly to enjoy the sights.

There were so many photo ops on Longevity Hill.

Mr. Selfish and I wished that we had more time in Beijing to truly appreciate these sights. We really felt like we were bouncing around Beijing due to the limited time that we had.